Costumes made/modeled by Yaya between 1999 - now.

Female Wizard - Granado Espada

Why I chose to make this costume:

From the video game "Granado Espada", the character design for the Female Wizard was the first image I saw from the game and it immediately drew me in. I had been planning to make that outfit for a few years and when I could spare a month to craft and sew before Dragoncon, I decided to just go for it.

How I made this costume:

This costume and the Ame-Comi Wonder Woman definitely took up most of my time in those 4 weeks. The Wizard has a lot of weird bits and pieces to the design and while looking at the reference, I kept discovering more details O_o. It was a fun and interesting project to work on but also frustrating at times, with lots of hand sewing and unconventional crafting involved.

I had so much fun fabric shopping for this costume! I used different types of materials such as satin, two-toned taffeta and dupioni silk, that react differently in the light, to create a more textured look to the costume. Eventhough this was not a competition costume, I made sure to serge, finish and top stitch/press all the seams and hems - I hate fraying silk/satin eeek. I embroidered the outer silk layer of the corset and added a set of faux flesh tone panels to match the weird character design. I built the corset over a white bra and patterned out all the little panels and overlays on the bust area, made them and sewed them onto the bra by hand. I used the same technique as Carmilla's to make the Wizard's sleeve caps, covered them in fabric, and spent a good day decorating them by making the pleather straps, adding eyelets., hand sewing yards of black rattail in the criss-cross pattern, adding the feather fringe and white lace over that, and finally attaching them onto the shoulder-wrap-sleeve-thing. The shoulder wrap portion of the sleeves were also interesting, as I had to make a pattern with circular shaped and cut them out, then finish sewing the wraps. I made a pattern for the vaguely leafy-looking trim on the bust and shoulders, cut them out of organza, fray checked them, then used fabric paint to paint on the black lines. The sleeves themselves actually detach because there was just too much going on to properly put on the bodice with the sleeves permanently attached. I made the sleeves by creating a burgundy taffeta sleeve section and stitching lined strips of silk on top of it. I used gray organza (fray-checked of course) to make the fringed around the upper arms and wrists. Most of the details on the bodice was attached together by hand.

I spent so many hours on the top half of the costume that the skirts seemed super easy to make. There was the under layer which was short in front and long in the back, and another separate piece that consisted of the "apron" in the front and bustle in the back.

Then came the accessories, which were "interesting" to say the least. I mulled over the necklace/choker for a long time until I decided to create the shapes and tiers in wire, then wrapping them in black spandex strips. That gave me a base to hand-sew all the details onto it. I made many of the criss-cross patterns just with thread. I used the same technique to make the belt piece (which was a pain to sew).

The hat was stupidly easy compared to the rest of the outfit. I ordered a burgundy hat online and took it entirely apart, then re-decorated it based on the character design.

Probably forgetting some things but I think I covered the main parts....

such as the necklace/choker thing, the belt thing, and the feathered sleeve caps. A lot of design elements that were simple drawn lines for the artist became time consuming hand stitching and fiddling for me, the cosplayer lol. I must have used over 20 yards of rattail trim alone on this costume lol.

Thoughts on this costume:

I still have a few tiny details to tweak and add for a future con but it got done enough to be wearable a convention, so yay. This definitely was the weirdest costume I've ever made besides Carmilla. But while Carmilla was a lot of engineering and fighting with piles of fabric, the Wizard was all details and little odd bits and pieces. I had a lot of fun with this costume and tried to make it accurate yet wearable, while keeping the silhouette and colors of the character art in mind.

About Yaya

Yaya Han® is one of only few cosplayers in the world to build a business in this hobby-ist community, but even after a decade of success, she strives to stay true to what got her into this field originally - fun and creativity. To this day, Yaya has made a myriad of costumes in the genres of anime, manga, video games, sci-fi, comic books and of course from her own original designs. Her intricate and lavish creations have won awards and acclaim worldwide, and she has been invited to appear as a Guest, Panelist, Judge, Performer and Host to over 100 conventions and other events all over the globe.